A unique community of Rafoogars from a tiny hamlet of Najibabad in Uttar Pradesh are my favourite artisans for shawls. They repair, refurbish, recreate and refashion antique handwoven Jamawar shawls. The exquisite embroidery with stunning designs has my heart, but its sad that despite of being so talented many of these artisans want to end this tradition & do not want to carry it forward to their younger generation. The community like every other master craftspeople has been hit hard by the Pandemic and are struggling to survive.

These are some photographs of shawls from Lubna Khanam’s curated collection – Shawl Story. Lubna Khanam is an amazing woman who entered this male dominated field to take forward the legacy of her father and her father in law. This is a small effort by a dear friend Alaknanda Kathak & I to help spread the word about these artisans.

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